


Lost in the Stars

by the_sound_of_inevitability



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22121134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sound_of_inevitability/pseuds/the_sound_of_inevitability
Summary: After a terrible day at work, Rey is enlisted by Poe Dameron, her housemate's boyfriend, to help his band unpack before a gig.Things have to get worse, before they can get better.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

The night wasn’t turning out exactly how she wanted it, if Rey was being honest with herself. She had come home after a shitty day at work - where Plutt had stolen her commission for the umpteenth time - and been enlisted, along with her housemate, to help Millennium Falcon unpack before their gig at Mos Eisley. Poe Dameron, Millennium Falcon’s frontman and her housemate’s long-term boyfriend, had promised free entry to Mos Eisley and two free drinks for their help.  
  
Given that Mos Eisley was free entry anyway, and their drinks were fairly reasonable for Coruscant City, this to Rey was insufficient reason to forgo her planned night in of duvet, shitty romcom, and KitKats for dinner. But Finn, her housemate, her best friend, had begged her with puppy dog eyes because could she _understand_ what it was like for him to see his boyfriend on stage, singing and playing bass like a rock god? 

“Do you know what it does for our sex li-” he’d started, pleading with hands clasped.

“No! _No_!” She’d said, clapping her hands over her ears and heading straight for her bedroom. As someone who had shared a wall with Finn for the whole time he had been seeing Poe, she knew more than anyone what it did for their sex life. So she had sequestered herself in the room, door shut, and eyed up her headphones to assess their noise-cancelling abilities.

“Reyyyy,” Finn had whined through the closed door. “You know we always go back to his place after a gig, and you’ll have the house to yourself _all weekend_ …”

She sighed.

“Give me half an hour to get dressed.”

  


* * *

  


She had put on a passable - well, being honest, kinda slutty - outfit and managed to pair it with sensible footwear to facilitate the packing and unpacking of equipment at Mos Eisley. She even mixed herself and Finn a homemade vodka and lemonade - housed in Pepsi bottle - to share in the Uber to the club. All in all, she thought she’d been a pretty good wingwoman.

So when Finn had headed straight into Mos Eisley (“Just going to speak to Poe, babe,”) rather than joining her at Falcon’s open van in the side street, Rey started to feel ever so slightly pissed off.

The vodka had started to hit her at this stage, in combination with the warmth of the Uber, and she had unzipped her jacket to let her skin breathe. Lifting herself onto the van’s step, and trying to identify equipment in the dim light, she thanked the stars again that she wasn’t wearing heels. She had decided, in the end, to go for jeans and Converse - so far so casual - but had clipped herself into a low-cut black leotard that exposed skin all the way down her chest to just above her belly button. Her breasts were held very securely in place with duct tape - the anecdote about The Day that Boob Tape Failed Rose Tico never failed to haunt Rey - and given just the right amount of squoosh to curve out invitingly without making her look like an underwear model. 

She didn’t really know why she bothered, except that her day had been so demonstrably shitty that she felt that, with a positive attitude and a bit of effort, she could make an attempt to save it.

When Armitage Hux had put his hand on the back of her calf, and wheedled “Hello Rey,” Rey decided to bin her positive outlook.

Choking back a scream, she put some serious force into her ‘reflexive’ donkey kick, narrowly missing kicking Hux in the shoulder. The kick had its desired effect; he let go of her leg. She managed to spit out a “Hi Hux,” before going back to looking at the equipment.

Observing the equipment was secondary to the main objective of keeping her face and body turned away from Hux. This way, he wouldn’t see the frantic way she was trying to rezip her jacket over her chest cleavage.

 _Little perv’s head will probably explode,_ she thought.

Armitage Hux - resident rich kid and the only person in Millennium Falcon who could play Poe’s synth with any degree of expertise - always made her skin crawl. He had never come straight out and asked her out, which Rey suspected was an attempt to stop her from rejecting him, but preferred to skulk around the edges of her awareness, getting in a sly touch here and there or an edgy comment about what she was wearing. But in the cunning way of low beasts, he had never gone far enough for her to be able to call it out.

_Why the fuck did I have to go tits-out this evening. In fact, why the fuck did I have to go out out this evening at all._

The zipper wasn’t cooperating. One hard tug above what the poor jacket could stand and snap - the slider came off in Rey’s hand. 

_Fucks sake._

“Poe said you’re helping us unpack,” Hux sneered. He probably didn’t mean to sneer, but that’s sort of how everything he said came out. “Wouldn’t want you to strain yourself.”

“Ah, awesome! I’ll be heading in, then.” Rey pivoted to the right, turning away from Hux to avoid any chest-in-the-face encounters as she stepped down from the van.

Not one to let a prime opportunity to be gross at Rey escape him, Hux managed to use her roundward momentum to pivot her back towards him, holding firmly onto her left arm with his little claw hands.

“My,” he exhaled, and Rey swore she felt his breath on her chest. “What a pretty outfit.”

“Cheers mate, but I’m pretty cold. I’m gonna head in.” she said, straining to extricate herself politely.

Lights shone down the side street and the low thrum of a car engine cut off whatever Hux was going to say next. He seemed to realise that in the harsh spotlight of car headlamps, his clutch on Rey’s arm started to look a lot less helpful and a lot more aggressive, and released her. She pulled her jacket closed, and held it there in one hand.

“Hux!” A deep voice boomed from the car. “A little help?”

“I’ll help!” Rey yelled, practically skipping away from Hux, delighted for the interruption. “The trunk, love, yeah?”

“Yeah - I don’t - Hux -?”

Rey moved quickly to the back of the car, not seeing who was behind the wheel, caring only that she put as much distance between herself and Hux as possible. Distance, and where possible, a large vehicle.

“That’s Rey, Kylo. She was helping me unpack.”

“Helping everyone unpack!” Rey shouted back, fumbling for the door release on the trunk. The button seemed a bit cranky; pushing it had no effect.

“Have you unlocked this?” she called to the driver. “It’s not opening.”

The car engine turned off, and the driver’s door opened and slammed. 

“You gotta jiggle it, no one can do it, let me -”

The trunk hatch swung up, narrowly missing the car owner’s face as he came to the back of the vehicle. 

“I’ve got a way with cars,” Rey grinned. She put her hands into her pockets and pulled the jacket closed again She looked sideways up at the driver, who was tucking himself under the trunk hatch.

_Whoa._  
_Maybe this night isn’t such a write-off after all._

The driver was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing black jeans and a bomber jacket over a white tank top. His hair, thick and dark, fell around his face in an unruly way that edged just on the right side of pretentious dishevelment.

Kylo, Hux had said. Which meant that this dark-eyed god was Millennium Falcon's new guitarist. 

A noise that might have been a squeak escaped Rey's mouth. Kylo nodded in greeting.

“Hey, thanks for the help.”

He bent over the equipment piled in the back, inching closer to where Rey stood, and a delightfully clean masculine smell wafted over her. Millennium Falcon had been through a few guitarists before settling on Kylo a few weeks ago, and whatever faint memories Rey had of them, good-smelling certainly wasn’t in there. 

Kylo started sifting through the assortment of metal pieces in the trunk of his car, carefully selecting certain pieces and passing them to Rey without looking at her. As the mountain of metal in her arms piled up, Rey indulged in a daydream. A daydream in which she and Kylo lay in bed together in some fabulous five star hotel far from Mos Eisley, kissing as he ran his hands through her hair and asked:

"Is that OK?" 

"It's perfect," Rey smiled.

"What?" 

_Oh. The equipment._

Kylo unfolded himself upwards and turned to look at her. "Are you sure? It's not too heavy?"

"Oh, no, it's fine," she said cheerfully. “Probably. Near the stage, right?” 

“Um. Yeah.”

Kylo’s watched the girl walk away, equipment rattling in her arms.

  


* * *

  


Miraculously, all of Kylo’s equipment made it to Mos Eisley’s stage intact, though Rey was less than careful in setting it all down. The unholy racket she made by dropping everything onto the stage summoned Poe from god-knows-where, and he drew the girl in for a hug.

“Rey! It’s so good to see you, thank you so much for coming.” 

Poe was warm, smelled good, and fit his body against Rey’s in a way that was almost enough to make her feel sleepy, such was the level of comfort his arms gave.

 _He does give the best hugs_ , she thought. _This makes it about 20% worth it._ Poe pulled back from the embrace and held her at arm’s length, eyes widening at her outfit.

“You look _hot_ , oh my god. Can I tempt you to join the band? You have to say yes some time, you know, you can’t keep hiding those pipes from the world.”

“Ha, no, I’m good. There's only so much sexy a band can take, what with you and me and -"

She cut herself off, cursing the vodka, and Poe grinned.

"You've met Kylo, then," he said.

Rey felt a blush melt across her face, and cursed the vodka again. The object of her unfortunate cheek-rosing chose this moment to enter the club, hefting a case in each hand. He looked around, adjusting to the dimmer light in Mos Eisley before going to speak with Hux, and Rey and Poe took a moment to bond over the shared adoration of his fine figure.

"Poe, dear," she said to him, out of the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah?" 

"He can play guitar, right?"

Poe's eyes slid sideways to lock onto Rey's own, and a smirk she could only describe as wicked crept onto his face.

"Oh yeah, honey," he said. "He can play."

  


* * *

  


Rey didn't really process the gig. When Kylo had taken his jacket off, revealing arms that made Rey wonder why she had been conscripted to help unpack, when clearly the man could carry the whole van inside by himself, most of her logical thought had flown out of the window.

And things had only gotten worse - better? - from there, because when he'd picked up his guitar Rey understood Poe's smirk. 

Because Kylo could play. Kylo could _shred_.

And he did it almost effortlessly, never quite playing to the crowd the way Poe did, or affecting a 'cooler-than-you' vibe like Hux did. He played naturally, gently, his fingers - his long, supple fingers - seeming to hover over the fret and coax the music from the air.

The crowd went wild for him, obviously. Whenever he played a solo, there was a noticeable swell of women towards the stage, and Rey felt a twist in her stomach that was half longing, half jealousy.

 _This is ridiculous_ , she thought. _You met him two hours ago_.

She and Finn were seated at the railing on the mezzanine level of the club, directly above and in front of the stage. Poe had found them almost immediately, locking eyes with Finn and singing lyrics directly to him, when he wasn’t mugging to the crowd. Kylo's gaze was detached, almost dreamy while he played. He didn't scan the crowd the way Poe did, though he had glanced up at the two of them at a few points during the gig. Heart rate picking up - because, eye contact! - Rey had given a thumbs-up when he caught her eye, but received only a very casual nod in return, and that sporadically. The music was good though, the drinks plentiful, and Rey pretended she was people-watching, with extra focus on one particular person. The night wasn’t going as badly as she thought it would. 

So when a fight started around them, Rey figured it was her own fault for jinxing it.

It seemed to happen instantly. One moment, there was just the sound of the band and the cheers of the crowd, and the next there was a flash like lightning and Rey was lying on the floor.

Her face was hot, and she felt many, many sharp pains all over her body before she registered that she was getting trampled because - oh yeah - she was on the floor. Finn’s hands reached down and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her upwards through the throng. Not that she was sure up here was better than down there; fists were flying and every now and again a plastic cup went flipping through the air, cascading beer as it went. The music faltered, losing body, becoming disjointed. Someone tugged at Finn’s shirt, grappling as they fell, and he was pulled away, into the thick of the fight.

Above the roar she heard Poe over the sound system:

“We’re just gonna take a quick break guys, we like to promote peace and love here at Mos Eisley so I’m going to go do my bit.”

Rey tried to dodge the arms of the fighting horde around her, she really did, but there was only so much she could do against thirty flailing fists, and she caught a blow in the side here, a nick across the face there. She strained to push through the crowd, aiming for the direction Finn had disappeared into. 

She hadn’t made much headway when the crowd started to melt in front of her, space opening up between the bodies.

Kylo was making his way toward her, standing head and shoulders above the chaos. Anyone who crossed his path found themselves cast away. He grabbed collars and shoulders, mostly one handed, and pushed people aside like it was his job. When his eyes landed on Rey, he reached forward and clasped her hand, dragging her towards him. He wrapped an arm across her shoulders and pivoted around her, so that she stood against his chest. He was so close against her back that she felt the heat of his chest through her jacket like a space heater, even in the warmth of the club.

“Stairs,” he murmured into her ear, and herded her towards the stairwell. 

“Where’s Finn?” she shouted, turning her head up towards his. He was so near that her cheekbone rubbed against his jaw.

“Poe’s got him,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Any drunken idiot who strayed into their path found themselves rediverted, pushed none-too-gently to one side to clear the way. They made the stairs and started down them as the Mos Eisley bouncers filed up to deal with the brawl.

  


* * *

  


Kylo brought Rey outside, to the side alley of Mos Eisley where Poe stood over Finn, landing gentle kisses on his face and whispering sweet nothings and apologies. She wandered into the alley, and found an area of concrete that was marginally cleaner than the rest. Kylo disappeared back into the club.

“Rey! Thank God,” Finn said. He looked better than Rey felt. “Are you OK?”

“I just wanted,” she said, sitting gingerly on the ground, “to stay in, and have a duvet night, and maybe order a pizza. And here I am. Bruised, and battered, and bloody hungry!”

A hand appeared in her side vision, holding a half-empty bag of ice. Just the right size to press against her now-throbbing face. Kylo squatted down in front of her, and pressed the bag gently into her hand. His deep brown eyes searched hers, and she dropped her gaze.

 _And a hot guy saw me get pummelled_ , she added mentally, and felt honest-to-God tears come to her eyes. She pressed the bag to her face and her scorched skin started to feel blessedly cool. She exhaled shakily, and shook her head, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone. Kylo rose, and Rey watched his legs move away.

“Rey, I am so, so sorry,” Poe said. “I didn’t think this would happen, I would never have asked you to help if I did-”

She shook her head, and held her free hand up.

“I love you, Poe Dameron. But shut up now.”

She sat there for a while, falling deeper and deeper into melancholy, only faintly aware of the men starting to pack up around her. The bag of ice melted onto her face, dripping onto her torso.

 _My lovely top_ , she thought, feeling empty.

Except it wasn’t coming through to her skin. She heard it drip but didn’t feel the cold water soak through her clothes.

Rey lifted the bag away from her skin, and looked down. Looked down at the bomber jacket that had been draped over her shoulders.

  


* * *

  


“OK honey, let me call you a cab, it’s the least I can do,” Poe said when they were ready to go. 

Rey's mood had begun to thaw along with the ice. A brief inspection of her face in her phone's selfie mode had made her think the damage wouldn’t last longer the night; all red marks, no bruises or broken skin. 

“I’m OK, love. I’ll order one. I might see if I can bribe the driver to stop off at a pizza place on the way home. Or maybe a burger joint.”

Kylo’s trunk slammed. “I can drop you home,” he said, coming round to lean against the driver’s side door.

Rey blinked. She stuffed her hands in her pockets - remembering slightly too late that they were his pockets, she had put his jacket on properly and Kylo was still standing in a tank top - and looked over at Poe. He shrugged, arms open and eyes smiling, and swung up into the driver's seat of his van.

"Up to you," he said, slamming the door and resting his elbow on the open windowsill. "I can vouch for him, if that helps."

Rey chewed it over for a minute. A second, really.

"You know where he lives? If I go missing?" She asked Poe, who nodded solemnly. She looked over at Kylo, waiting patiently against his car. She beamed.

"Let's go, then."


	2. Chapter 2

In the car, Kylo typed her address into his phone and mapped it, nodding to himself as he identified the route. She started to shuck the jacket but he shook his head, sliding his phone back in his jeans pocket.  
  
"The heating will take a while,” he said, turning the key in the ignition. “Keep it on."  
  
"Won't you be cold?"  
  
He held his hands up and Rey was momentarily hypnotized by the sheen of his skin under the dim street lights. He flexed his fingers before reaching for his seatbelt.  
  
"I'm never cold after a gig. Adrenaline or something." Click.  
  
Rey followed his lead, clipping the seatbelt across herself. Kylo turned in his seat, and she was struck by how close she was to him. Close enough to touch. He smelled stronger than he had before the gig, the clean smell giving way to something muskier but no less pleasant.  
  
He put his hand on the headrest behind her head, and manoeuvred the car backwards out of the alley.  
  
“I’m Ben, by the way.”  
  
Rey frowned. “I thought - Hux and Poe called you -”  
  
The car straightened out onto the main road, and he stuck it into drive. They shot forward.  
  
“Kylo, yeah. It’s my old stage name. That’s not generally how I introduce myself but I didn’t really have time, before.”  
  
“I’m Rey. I’m Finn’s - Poe’s boyfriend’s - housemate."  
  
"Good to meet you."  
  
"Likewise."  
  
They sat in silence for a few more seconds, before it occurred to Rey: "Where did Hux go?"  
  
"Hux? He left when Poe and I jumped off the stage. I think he wanted to save his own skin, if the fight got nasty."  
  
"Oh. Unsurprising, I guess."  
  
Ben hummed in agreement, and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.  
  
“So, Rey, did you decide?”  
  
_Only where I’d want our honeymoon to be._ “Sorry?”  
  
“Do you want burgers or pizza? Bossk Burger is on the way to your place, or Pava’s - this great pizza place - is twenty minutes that way.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing in the opposite direction.  
  
_Is he thinking what I think he's thinking?_  
  
“Oh, it's fine, I wanted pizza, but I can order when I get h-”  
  
“Awesome.”  
  
Ben downshifted and spun the wheel, and Rey grabbed the door handle as the car made a sharp U-turn. Turning them back the way they had come, he floored the accelerator, and gravity pushed her back in her seat.  
  
“So,” she said. “You’re kidnapping me?”  
  
“What? You said you wanted pizza-”  
  
“Ah, we’re getting pizza! So the Fast and Furious thing is just… dramatics? And not you making a getaway.” She looked pointedly at the speedometer. It was climbing rapidly towards triple digits, and clawing into the time she was spending alone in a car with the hot guitarist.  
  
He pursed his lips, and let up on the gas. The car slowed to an acceptable speed.  
  
“Fair point. I’ll drive responsibly.”  
  
Rey nodded primly, and he smiled.  
  
“Pava’s is great, you’re going to love it.”

  


* * *

  
  


When they pulled up to Pava’s, Rey undid her seatbelt as the car stopped. Ben turned the car off.  
  
“I’ll just be two minutes, I promise.” she said to him.  
  
He looked up at her, confused, hand on his own seatbelt.  
  
_Dear sweet Jesus, his eyes._  
  
“What? I thought we were going to go in and sit down?”  
  
Her mouth fell open. She was genuinely at a loss for words.  
  
_‘We’? ‘Sit down’? Honeymoon in the Bahamas?_  
  
“Oh,” she managed. “But you’ve gotta get home…”  
  
“Nope,” he said, undoing his seatbelt and opening the door. “Come on.”  
  
He was out of the car before Rey could argue.  
  
The night really was looking up.

  


* * *

  
  


“Do you do this after every gig?” she asked, looking down at the menu.  
  
“Go for food?” he shrugged. “Mostly. Beats having to go home and cook.”  
  
Rey deflated a little, and hid her pout behind the menu.  
  
“Hey Ben,” Their waitress - young, dark-haired and beautiful - approached the table, notepad in hand. “How’d the gig go?”  
  
Ben broke out into a smile, and hopped up to hug the waitress. Rey’s heart sank. From the way the waitress leaned into the hug it seemed to Rey that Ben gave hugs that were nearly as good as Poe’s. Unsurprising. It must be like hugging a bear.  
  
“It was good, Jess, it was good - oh -”  
  
He detached himself from the hug, and gestured to Rey.  
  
“This is Rey. The gig was… less good for her.”  
  
“Oh?” the waitress looked genuinely concerned, and Rey felt the same spark of jealousy as she had when Ben was playing. Which was ridiculous, because this girl seemed lovely, and she met Ben literally three hours ago.  
  
“Oh, it was nothing,” Rey said, shaking her head. “I just - got caught in the middle of a brawl. I’m actually OK now. And I hear the pizza here is amazing, so things are getting better.”  
  
Ben patted Jess on the back, and sat back down. She started writing on the pad.  
  
“Our pizzas are great, and I’m not just saying that because I eat one for lunch every single day,” she said. “I’ll bring you one of our chocolate milkshakes too, you gotta try those. My treat, for your shitty night.”  
  
“Oh, thank you, but I'll pay for -"  
  
“Nope,” Jess shook her head, and made a very definitive dotting motion on the pad. “So what pizza’ll it be?”  
  
“What would you like, Rey?” Ben asked. He had put the menu down and was leaning forward, arms crossed on the table, looking for all the world as if Rey’s choice of pizza held the meaning of life.  
  
“Um,” Rey’s mind went blank for the third time this evening, and she looked at the pizza list. _Concentrate, concentrate, ignore the hot musician staring into your soul._ “The… diavola? Would that be OK?”  
  
“Sounds awesome,” he said, and leaned back. He ran his hand through his hair and grinned at Jess. “Fourteen-inch diavola please, Jess. And a Coke for me.”  
  
“Sure thing! Give me a few minutes for the drinks.”  
  
She took their menus and smiled down at both of them, before walking off. Rey looked down and played with her zipper - his zipper - for a few seconds, hoping to avoid seeing Ben check out Jess.  
  
“Is everything OK?”  
  
Rey looked up, straight into Ben’s warm, concerned eyes. She sat up a little, and took a quick look behind her. Jess was standing beside the counter, back to them, talking to another waiter. It was a good view.  
  
Back to Ben. Who was still looking at her.  
  
“Oh - yeah - um,” _Things are amazing. Things are the worst._ “Is Jess your- I mean, are you guys-?”  
  
Ben frowned, perplexed, and shook his head. “What?”  
  
“Are you guys -” She felt her cheeks going red. Great. “Is she your girlfriend?”  
  
His frown deepened, and his mouth twisted, as if he were chewing something rubbery. “No, God, no. I love her, but no. She introduced me to Poe, actually.”  
  
“Oh, really?” The blush, sensing an even better opportunity for Rey to feel like an idiot, deepened and spread to her hairline.  
  
“Mm-hmm. I worked here one summer as a student, and I love coming here. Jess’s family runs the place, and they’ve always been good to me. Jess is like my sister. She knew Poe through college, and introduced us when he was looking for a new guitarist.” He made an abstract waving motion with his hands, and rested his face on his hand. He smiled, and one shoulder came up in a shrug. “That’s it.”  
  
A smile slipped onto Rey’s face. The blush, its work done, receded from her skin.  
  
“That’s great,” she said. “I mean, that’s lovely.”  
  
Ben paused, and rocked forward on his elbows.  
  
“So, how did-”  
  
“Milkshake and Coke!” Jess appeared with a tray, and he sank back into his seat. A tall metal cup and a glass full of milkshake were placed in front of Rey, and Jess laid a pint of Coke in front of Ben.  
  
“Thanks, J,” he said, pulling the straw to his lips.  
  
“Enjoy, guys.” Jess said, and walked off.  
  
Rey leaned forward and drank some milkshake, and her eyes widened.  
  
“Whoa,” she said. “That’s a fucking good milkshake.”  
  
Ben grinned, and tilted his head forward. “It’s good, right? You should have seen me, the summer I worked here. Milkshakes and pizza for lunch every day, I had to double my workout just to break even.”  
  
_That explains the physique._  
  
“It was definitely worth it,” she blurted out.  
  
His eyebrow quirked up.  
  
“The milkshake,” she said, “the milkshake is definitely worth it.”  
  
“Oh, definitely, definitely.”  
  
They sat in silence for a few seconds. Rey went for another sip of the milkshake.  
  
“It, uh, it maybe goes without saying but try not to get any on my jacket.”  
  
She gulped, and leaned back, hands going for the zipper. “Oh my god, I’m sorry, here -”  
  
“No, no,” he said, “I didn’t mean take it off.”  
  
"Are you sure? Because I do actually have a jacket on under this."  
  
"Yeah," he said. "As much as I liked the outfit, it seems like your jacket is busted. So hold onto mine for now."

  


* * *

  
  


The diavola was amazing, like the milkshake, and Ben ordered another when they were only halfway through. Jess had rolled her eyes and pointed at the clock.  
  
“We close in ten minutes, Benny.”  
  
“I know, I know Jess, come on, just one more, please, please.”  
  
Rey grabbed her milkshake and took a sip, ignoring the correlation of her dry mouth and Ben’s pleas. She dipped her toe into another daydream, and this time she was straddling him, her hands in his hair, listening to him babble “Please, please- “  
  
“Please, Jess!”  
  
_Rude._  
  
“You’re lucky you’re family, don’t pull this shit again on a Friday night.” Jess called. He held his hands aloft, clasped in a prayer pose, and mouthed ‘thank you’.  
  
Rey dabbed at her mouth and leaned forward, chin in hand in what she hoped was an alluring and coquettish manner, and asked:  
  
"So where did you get the name Kylo from?"  
  
Ben paused halfway through a slice. He held the rest of the slice up, contemplating it as he chewed. He cocked his head to one side.  
  
“It’s kind of a long story,” he said. “It was sorta chosen for me.”  
  
He popped the remaining piece into his mouth, and brushed the cornmeal crumbs off his fingers.  
  
“Jess!” he shouted across the restaurant again. “Can we get more drinks?”  
  
“Ben! This isn’t funny!”  
  
“Last one, I promise!” he smiled, and picked up his glass. He sipped at the last few drops of Coke at the bottom, before looking up at Rey, stricken. “Are you OK with all this, by the way?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“It’s nearly midnight. Did you want me to drop you home?”  
  
“Oh, no, I had no plans this evening. My night belonged to the Millennium Falcon, and you are the group representative. My night belongs to you.”  
  
Once it was out of her mouth, she heard it, and resisted every urge to take it back or make a silly comment.  
  
_Deal with it, dude,_ she told herself. _If you can’t say weird flirty shit to a man who looks like that, when can you say it?_  
  
A muscle in Ben’s jaw flexed, and he made a small coughing noise deep in his chest.  
  
“Oh,” he said. “That’s... nice.”  
  
He leaned forward, still cupping his glass, and cleared his throat.  
  
“Rey,” he murmured, and she blushed, remembering his arm around her in Mos Eisley, the heat of his chest against her back. The feel of his skin on hers. “I -”  
  
“Milkshake and Coke!”  
  
Ben sighed. “Thanks, Jess.”

  


* * *

  
  


“Have you heard of The Jedi Knights?” Ben asked as they started ripping into the second diavola.  
  
Rey nodded vigorously, mouth wrapped around a slice. "I love the Jedi Knights," she said, but it came out as more "Mmrh - HMMBF - hrh - yhdy - nhhts".  
  
Ben smiled a little, seemingly amused at her complete lack of basic manners. "What was that?"  
  
She pulled the half-chewed pizza down her throat, grimacing when the wad of dough seemed about to get stuck halfway.  
  
"I love the Jedi Knights," she said. "I love them so much, I-"  
  
_'- so much I changed my name to Skywalker when I got out of foster care' is a lot of information to dump on someone in the first meeting. It just invites further questions._  
  
"- really like their songs." She finished, lamely.  
  
The Jedi Knights were a supergroup, composed mainly of folk singer/songwriter duo Luke and Leia Skywalker (siblings, and not in the Jack and Meg White kind of way), Han Solo, former drummer of the Corellian Corsairs, and Chewbacca, who fronted the Wookiees in the 70s. They rotated in and out of this roster over the past forty years, with guest members coming in for an album here, a live performance there.  
  
Rey’s favourite lineup was their mid-90s phase, where they got into CGI in a major way. It wasn’t popular with everyone.  
  
Ben was rocking gently in his seat, mouth working around something. Rey waited patiently, and took a sip of milkshake.  
  
“I…,” he rubbed a hand over his face, before visibly deflating. “I liked that band a lot too, as a kid.”  
  
Rey nodded. He shrugged one shoulder.  
  
“I had a very… high-pressure home life, when I was a teenager. And the more I listened to Jedi Knights, the more I disliked them. My parents really encouraged me to play instruments, and I tried to set up an anti-Jedi Knights band.”  
  
Rey raised her eyebrows, mouth around her straw. _So dorky. So cute._  
  
“Turned out, there was a market for that sort of thing. This record exec picked me up, along with a few other guys, and they tried to manufacture us into a behemoth, to take on The Jedi Knights.”  
  
He paused to inhale another slice, while Rey chewed at hers. She was feeling pleasantly full.  
  
“What was your band’s name?”  
  
He swallowed, and studied the piece of crust he still held. His cheeks had a very faint blush.  
  
“The Knights of Ren.” He bit into the piece, and dropped his eyes to the table.  
  
“Oh my - that was you!?” Rey laughed. “I remember them! With the masks? Yes, oh my god, Cardo Ren, and, wasn't there Trudgen Ren? And - ”  
  
Ben nodded. “And,” he muttered, pointing to himself, “Kylo Ren.”  
  
“Wow,” she said. “What happened? How did you go from that to Millennium Falcon? Does Poe know? And why didn’t anyone recognise you tonight?”  
  
He laughed, and eyed Rey warmly.  
  
“So,” he said, holding up four fingers, “The record exec - his name was Snoke - was a grade-A asshole, and eventually got sued in an unrelated lawsuit. There was embezzling, fraud, harassment, a whole load of stuff. We were only one album in and being exploited to shit because we were teenagers, we were idiots, and we pretty much signed our rights away on the first day. Luckily the nature of the lawsuit against Snoke meant he had to cease all operations, and Knights of Ren were so tied into Snoke that it invalidated us too."  
  
He folded his index finger down. “So that was the end of that. Much to the delight of my parents. But we’ll get back to them another time.”  
  
_Another time?_  
  
“How I got involved with Millennium Falcon. As I said, Jess knew Poe from college, and she introduced us when he was looking for a guitarist. But there’s a bit more. My dad met Poe once, and sort of, named the band? So I had heard about them over the years. He keeps track of Millennium Falcon and absolutely sings Poe’s praises, it’s ridiculous, sometimes he’s like the son he never ha-”  
  
He cut himself off, and swallowed a cough. Rey grimaced. “But you’re over it?”  
  
He huffed out a laugh. “Sorry. So my family had that link to the band. Then the introduction from Jess. It was like… fate, I guess.”  
  
Middle finger down, followed quickly by the ring finger. “So yes, Poe knows. He insists on introducing me to people as Kylo, even though without the mask, there’s kind of no point. One to one, people don’t generally put two and two together. They just think I’m a fanboy, I guess?”  
  
The pinky finger came down. “Tonight was my first gig with Millennium Falcon, and someone might have made the connection, but Poe didn’t get a chance to do his callouts before all hell broke loose upstairs.”  
  
“Oh yeah, it really did.” It seemed so long ago now. So far from this lovely pizzeria, with this lovely pizza, with this lovely man.  
  
“So that’s… that’s why Kylo,” he said. “A long story.”  
  
“Not that long,” Rey shrugged.  
  
“Long enough! Time to go, kids.” Jess wandered up to the table, clapping her hands. “You don’t gotta go home, but you can’t stay here.”  
  
Ben picked up his Coke and knocked it back. “Jess, thank you so so much. You are my favourite Pava, please don’t tell your mother.” He stood up, and indicated the last slice of pizza to Rey. When she shook her head, patting her swollen stomach as she stood, he picked it up and adroitly folded half of it into his mouth. Arms free, he wrapped Jess in a hug, while she screwed her face up.  
  
“You’ve got pizza hanging out of your mouth and it’s midnight, honey, please leave.”  
  
Once he let go to demolish the slice, Jess leaped forward to shake Rey’s hand.  
  
“It was so lovely to meet you, Rey. Don’t be a stranger.”  
  
She followed them to the till, and Ben pulled out his wallet. When Rey raised her debit card, he shook his head.  
  
“My treat,” he said. “You had a shitty time at the gig and you just sat there and had to put up with me for over an hour, you’re not spending a penny.”  
  
She put the card in her pocket, and held her hands up.  
  
“Awesome,” Jess said. “That’s two diavolas, two Cokes and two milkshakes. $46.50.”  
  
“Two milkshakes? I thought they were on the house.”  
  
“On the house for her,” Jess smiled. “I know you can spare the cash, so you’re gonna spare it right into my till. Plus a 25% tip.”  
  
Ben sighed, and pulled three twenties out of his wallet. “Con artist.”  
  
“Rich kid. Have a great night, you two!”  
  
He held the front door open for Rey, and they left Pava’s as the lights started to flicker off. Rey hunched her shoulders as they crossed the parking lot.  
  
“I feel sorta bad for keeping Jess,” she murmured.  
  
“Don’t,” he said, “She just cheated me out of a free milkshake.”  
  
"She's very lovely to offer me the free one, though."  
  
Ben grunted. He depressed the door unlocker, and the car lights flashed. He slid into the drivers seat, and Rey into the passenger side.  
  
"Wow!" She said, watching her breath come out as smoke. "It's baltic in here, what's wrong with your car? I swear it's colder in here than it is outside."  
  
He bristled. "There's nothing wrong with her. She just… takes a while to warm up." His hand reached out and rubbed the dashboard in an encouraging manner. "Isn't that right, baby?"  
  
_God, I wish that were me._  
  
"OK, well while she's taking a while to warm up," Rey said, wriggling out of his jacket, "I'll have to insist that you take this back."  
  
She pulled her own jacket closed with one hand, and held his jacket out over the central console. He closed his hand on it, but didn’t take it.  
  
"What about you? Won't you be cold?" he said.  
  
She shrugged. "I'll manage. I would hate for the lead guitarist of Millennium Falcon to get hypothermia and die after his inaugural gig."  
  
He made that huffing laugh again - which was, frankly, adorable - and put the jacket on.  
  
"We could also go the long way back to mine, give the car a chance to warm up? If you don't have to be up tomorrow or anything." She tried to keep the hopeful, desperate tone out of her voice and wasn't sure if she succeeded.  
  
He nodded, clipping in his seatbelt. "Sounds good."

  


* * *

  
  


What would have been a thirty-minute journey ended up taking about an hour, and they pulled up to Rey's apartment block at 1.20am.  
  
"Thanks for tonight," she said, undoing her seatbelt. "Really took the edge off being beaten up by twenty strangers."  
  
Ben gently held his hand up to her face, fingertips grazing along her jawline.  
  
"You look fine," he said, eyes dark. "No one would know."  
  
Her heart stopped, and she had two seconds to register his touch, the heat emanating from his skin, before he yanked it back. He cleared his throat.  
  
The blush in Pava’s was nothing compared to the firestorm now raging across her face. She smiled.  
  
“Thank you for the rescue. And the jacket. And the pizza.”  
  
He shrugged, and Rey felt a tingle at seeing the flex of his torso, his muscles shifting under the fabric.  
  
“Thanks for the company,” he said.  
  
She opened her door and stepped out of the car.  
  
_This might be your last chance for flirty shit._  
  
She leaned down in the open doorway, one hand on the car and the other in the back pocket of her jeans.  
  
“Maybe next time we could try Bossk?”  
  
Ben’s eyes fixed on hers for a microsecond, before flickering down to her torso, down to where her open jacket framed her chest showing mega cleavage - _oh fuck!_ \- and he snapped his head round to face front.  
  
“Maybe. Goodnight.”  
  
He pulled off without waiting for her to close the door, and it slammed shut as the car accelerated away.  
  
She stood there like an idiot, staring after the car for a full minute, mind whiting out at what had just happened and how she had gone from a normal human being to a desperate, awkward would-be seductress in the space of five seconds.  
  
_Oh my god, he literally speeded away._  
  
_Oh my god, he’s going to tell Poe and Hux._  
  
She sighed and walked up the path to her apartment block. Halfway up, she groaned, and clamped her hands over her face in mortification.  
  
_Oh my god, I put my debit card in his pocket._


	3. Chapter 3

In the cold light of Saturday morning, what had happened was no less embarrassing, and Rey stifled a groan roughly once every two minutes as the recollection slammed into her brain. She had rattled off a quick text to Finn last night, in the hope that Poe would be able to retrieve her debit card from Ben, but no response yet.

 _Ah, the old post-coital coma_. _What was that like, again?_

Shuffling around the kitchen in her favourite fluffy onesie, the one that guaranteed comfort and relaxation, Rey tried to fend off her horribly overactive imagination.

> _The buxom strumpet, eyes crawling over the attractive stranger who had given her every kindness, leaned forward and breathed, "Maybe next time we can go further, big boy,"._
> 
> _Disgust, horror in the strangers eyes as he pulled his arm from her clutches. "Nay, witch! I will not thank you for this repayment!"_
> 
> _The handsome stranger leaped atop his horse and galloped away as the strumpet cackled._

Rey clapped a hand to her forehead and barked out a laugh

"It wasn't that bad, Skywalker," she muttered. "It was a bit embarrassing, but you'll get over it."

She poured some cereal into a bowl and took it to the living room, where she had already started building a nest of blankets. 

Finn wasn't due back until Sunday evening, so Rey was determined to make the most of her weekend alone. And it started with watching _The Office_ at 11am on a Saturday morning.

* * *

_Ding-dong_.

> _The open car door had begun to make a dinging sound, and Ben nervously gripped the handbrake as if he wanted nothing more than to release the lever and speed away._

_Ding-dong_.

> _Rey leaned forward and pushed her breasts together with her elbows, à la Rachel Green, and began to sing, "Hap-py Birth-day, Mr Presi-"_

_Ding-dong_.

Rey came awake in a daze. The TV was showing a 'Are you still watching?' message, the room was in darkness and she was _bloody warm._ A quick look at the clock told her it was 8pm. She had been asleep for four hours. 

_Ding-dong_.

She finally identified the noise as the entryphone, and stumbled towards it, undoing her onesie as she went.

The top half was unwrapped around her waist and she was shimmying out of the bottom half when she pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Rey?"

Her stomach twisted. It was a very distinctive voice, even if they had only met yesterday.

"Ben?"

"Yeah. Can I come up? I have your card."

Her hand - treacherous limb - reached up and thumbed the door release button, and she instantly regretted it.

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck_

It took about two minutes to get from the front door to the flat - Rey and Finn having picked a flat at the very back of the complex - so she didn't have much time. She spun on the spot, immediately got twisted up in her onesie, and hit the floor like a ton of bricks.

_FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK_

She kicked the onesie off, scrambled up and sprinted for the couch. Her collection of snacks got balled up in a blanket and stuffed under the couch. The empty cereal bowl, along with various other dishes, she scooped up and tossed in the sink. Rey winced at the resulting cacophany, hoping nothing was broken, but didn’t have time to stop. He was most likely on the stairs by now.

Her standard under-onesie attire was a camisole and sleep shorts, and after the performance yesterday she wanted - _needed_ \- to be wearing something more decent. Into her room then, kicking the onesie ahead of her, and scrabbling through the bundle of clothes on her bed.

_Where is it-where is it-where the FUCK-_

Finally, a flash of blue denim, and Rey pulled her boilersuit out of the pile. A quick puzzle of which was inside, which was outside, and she started stepping into it as the doorbell rang.

She jumped up and down, making sure everything was in that needed to be in, and tugged the zipper up. Despite her recent foul luck with one particular zipper, this one came up smoothly and hid everything away. 

Padding back to the front door, she flicked the light on so that the flat didn’t look like quite so much like an animal den, and ran a hand through her hair.

 _Ow_ . Many tangles, too many to sort right now. _Well, at least this interaction is going to be on-brand._

She took a quick glance through the peephole. Alas, Ben was still attractive, despite the expanse of hours since she saw him last, and despite looking at him through a cloudy fisheye lens. Rey sighed, and swallowed the brief pang in her stomach.

She turned the door handle and opened the door. Ben was standing in the hallway, taking up a lot of space. He wore a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt, under a shearling jacket. The jeans and jacket were black - Rey was sensing a theme - but the shirt was interlocking black and red lines. It brought his eyes and hair into stark contrast with his pale skin.

_This is fine, this is fine, this is like 95% hotness compared to last night._

"Hey, sorry for the wait." she said. 

He took a small step forward, bringing him to the door threshold. His scent - that lovely clean, masculine smell - washed over Rey.

"No problem, I'm sorry it took me so long. Poe texted me a few hours ago, but I had a family thing."

He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out her debit card. However, when Rey reached out her hand to take it, he didn't pass it to her. He turned the card in his fingers, looking it over. This went on for at least ten seconds, until Rey cleared her throat.

"Can I have it back, then?"

"Rey Skywalker," He said, voice thoughtful. He lifted his gaze to hers, a silent question in his deep brown eyes.

She sighed, and pushed her door open all the way, waving him inside.

"This is a longer story than yours."

* * *

She went through the whole thing from start to finish - from being abandoned at a Jakku bus stop as a three year old, through the series of terrible foster homes, to her discovery of The Jedi Knights and the concurrent uplift in her life's trajectory. When she finally left the care system and the reins of her life were firmly in her own hands, she had decided to commemorate the moment appropriately.

"So… Rey Skywalker." She smiled, and held her hands up. "I'm not anything to do with Luke and Leia Skywalker, I just love the name."

Ben had been quiet the whole way through, only giving her encouraging nods or sympathetic looks throughout her monologue. Around the half-hour mark Rey had offered him a tea, and he had accepted with a nod before they both sat on the couch. Her life history was a very hardcore thing to tell someone on the second day of acquaintance, but Rey figured she had already reached her threshold for embarrassment.

His cheeks were turning a very light shade of pink, and he still hadn't made a sound. He looked down into his empty mug and moved his lips as if to speak.

"Were you expecting all of that?" She joked. "Or did you think I was an actual Skywalker?"

Ben cocked his head. 

"Something like that," he muttered. "Poe did say you can sing, it's not completely unbelievable that you're some kind of Skywalker scion."

She shrugged. "My voice isn't that good. And it's certainly not Skywalker-level."

He looked down at his empty mug again, before pushing himself off the couch.

"Maybe you should come to practise sometime," he said, walking over to the sink. "Sing a little with us. Poe talks about it enough."

 _Not quite Bossk, but it's something_. She watched him start to wash his cup, imagined what it would be like to run her hands over his broad, muscular shoulders. And sighed.

"And maybe you and Hux can reconcile," Ben said over his shoulder. He missed Rey's look of disgust. She circled around a variety of scathing comebacks, many going into extreme detail as to how she'd like to reconcile her fist with Hux's face, before settling on:

"Unlikely."

"Well," he said, setting the cup on the rack. "I tried. And you have your card now, so I've done what I needed to do. Thanks for the tea."

Rey stood, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her overalls. In one pocket, her phone, and in the other, her debit card. She gripped the card hard enough for it to hurt. Her stomach twisted at the fact that Ben was forced to come and drop it off, and she swore a silent vow to wring Poe Dameron's neck the next time she saw him.

"Thanks for dropping it over. And for listening to me for over an hour."

"Thank you for telling me," he said, fixing her with that soul-searching look. He closed the distance between them, standing close enough to touch. "It can't have been easy."

She gazed up into those deep brown eyes, along his strong nose, over his soft lips. People had looked at her all her life, through her more often than not, but Ben was the first person to make her feel so _seen_. Even Finn and Rose, her closest friends, only turned that gaze on sporadically. With Ben, it seemed to be all the time. Always that look that made her soul feel exposed, made her heart flutter.

 _Fucks sake. You met him_ yesterday.

She dropped her eyes and laughed a little, and heard a hint of panic at the edge of the sound.

There was no segue, no 'are you OK', one minute Rey was leaning against the arm of her sofa and the next she was in Ben's embrace. He pulled her to him gently, one arm over her shoulder and one around her torso, guiding her face into the junction of his neck and his shoulder.

 _Holy fuck_. She had been right. He gave amazing hugs.

She couldn't tell if it was the contact, the warmth of his body or the sheer all-encompassing _smell_ of him, but Rey's heart started to slam against her ribcage. Her leg muscles felt like water, and she could only hope he was attributing all of this to what he thought was an incumbent panic attack but was actually just a case of the vapours. She exhaled slowly, trying to calm down. Trying not to stare too much at the soft skin of Ben's neck and imagine what it would be like to kiss him there.

His heartbeat began to drum against her chest, getting quicker all the time.

 _Fuck, you're scaring him off again_.

She pulled back from the hug, and patted his upper arm in what she hoped was a companionable gesture.

“Thanks for listening to my life story,” she smiled.

Ben looked at her for a few long seconds, eyes dark, before running a hand through his hair.

Again that pang, that want, ran through her.

“I mean, if anything, I owed you for last night,” he said. “You listened to me for long enough.”

“Well, hopefully your anti-Skywalker sentiment doesn’t extend to me.”

He did his huffy laugh thing, and put his hands in his pockets. “No, not at all.”

He started towards the door, and Rey had to choke down an invitation to stay.

_Stay with me, we’ll have dinner again, I’ll take the couch and you can take me._

“I’m serious about practise, by the way,” he said when he pulled at the latch. “You should come to the next one.”

“Maybe, but I really think Poe has oversold the quality of my voice.”

“Still, in case you weren’t planning on returning to one of our gigs.” He raised a hand in farewell, and walked out. 

“Bye,” she called after him, leaning against the doorframe, trying to pretend that the word ‘pining’ wasn’t in her vocabulary.

He turned the corner to the stairwell, and disappeared. 

* * *

The rest of the weekend passed in the same lazy vein, but without any surprise visits from hunky musicians. At least until Sunday evening, when Finn returned home with Poe.

Rey was back on the couch, having left it temporarily that morning for a food run and a run of the exercise variety. She and Finn had been texting on and off all weekend, and she knew better than to get caught in her nest again. When the boys arrived home, she was clean, dressed, and watching a serial killer documentary. All blankets had been relegated back to her bedroom, and messes tidied up.

"How's my sunshine doing?" Finn called, opening the door. 

"Better now you're back," she replied. "Where's Poe?"

"Bringing some stuff up from the car." He stepped into his room, and Rey heard the _thunk_ of a bag being dropped on the floor.

"Have you recovered from this weekend?"

She groaned, and put her hand over her eyes.

"What part? The Hux-perving, the battery, the saga of my encounters with the hot guitarist, or the fear that Ted Bundy will return from the grave to strangle me?"

When she uncovered her eyes, Finn was squatting against the back of the couch, his face scarcely ten inches from her own. She jumped, and swatted him.

"Ted Bundy is unlikely to return from the grave, sunshine."

He leaned forward and planted a kiss on Rey's forehead, before walking to the kitchen.

"What are you doing Thursday night?"

"Thursday? No plans. Working til five. Probably find more serial killer docs. Why?"

"Well," he said, opening the fridge. "How would you fancy having a night in with me and some Chinese food?"

She smiled, the corners of her mouth tucking in with genuine joy. "Sounds great. I'm in."

"Awesome," he said. A thudding in the hall heralded Poe's arrival. He struggled into the flat, an overnight bag in one hand and his guitar case in the other. Finn turned. "She said yes."

"She did?" Poe said, turning delighted eyes on Rey. "This is gonna be great, I can't wait." 

He headed towards Finn's room, while Rey fixed Finn with a glare.

"What was that?"

"What?" Finn looked puzzled, and turned back towards the fridge, away from her.

"That. With Poe. What did I just agree to?"

"Oh, _that_ ," he rummaged through the shelves, picking up random things and putting them back down. "Poe!"

"Yeah babe?" Poe's voice drifted out to them.

"Will you tell Rey what's happening Thursday?"

"Oh," Poe emerged from Finn's room, removing his jacket as he walked. "You didn't tell her?"

Finn emerged from the fridge, arms laden with food.

"I think you should tell her."

"Why should I tell her and not you?"

"Tell me _what_?" Rey exclaimed, arms out. "You asked if I wanted to stay in and get Chinese. What's going on?"

"Oh there will be Chinese, yeah there'll definitely be Chinese," Poe said. "If Hux and Kylo are here, we won't have space to _cook_ -"

"What!?" She screeched. "Hux!? Here? In my house? Dameron, this is too much, this is way too mu-"

"Hux, yes," Poe interrupted, hands up. "But also Kylo, honey, think of tall muscly Kylo-"

"Hey!" Finn threw a bag clip at Poe, which he dodged.

"- if you're into that -"

" _Hey!_ " A louder shout, and this time Poe had to deflect a spoon.

"What I'm saying is, you guys got on really well," - and here he waggled his eyebrows at Rey, who scoffed - "and I'm sure you'd like to see him again, wouldn't you?"

He crept closer and closer to her, ending up on his knees against the back of the couch like Finn had been, chin resting on the heels of his hands. With his wide brown eyes inches from Rey's own, he reminded her of nothing more than a human Puss in Boots.

"Its whether or not he'd like to see me again, after what happened," Rey said.

> _"Let me cure your ails, sir!"_
> 
> _"Nay, wench! May the devil take your imposition!"_

Poe shrugged, and smiled. "I'm sure he does, sunshine. But either way, it's not up to him. I'm the lead, we've got another gig in two weeks' time, and we need to practise."

"Already?"

"Yep," He popped the 'p' and bounced back up onto his feet. "Maz Kanata saw a little bit of our gig on Saturday and invited us to compete in the Kanata Competition. Winner gets two set gigs a month, for big money."

"Oh good," Rey said. "So if you get your residency, my battered face will be worth it."

"Oh please," Poe flapped a hand at her. "You were barely bruised. And it certainly didn't stop you from throwing yourself at Kylo afterwa-"

"Don't!" Rey buried her face in her hands. "It was mortifying! And then you forced him to come here and drop off my card too, like I hadn't suffered enough."

"Huh," Poe and Finn exchanged a glance, and her housemate made a face that involved pursed lips and raised eyebrows.

"What was that?" she said.

"What was what?" Poe said.

"Not you," It came out as a hiss. "Finn, what was that look?"

"What look?" 

"I swear to _God_ -!"

She picked up a cushion and hefted it in her hands, taking aim. Finn screamed and shrank away, eyes screwed up, hands raised.

“Not the face!”

“We offered to bring the card!” Poe sprang between them, arms wide, defending his boyfriend in a chivalrous manner. Rey let the cushion fall, loosening her grip. “We told Kylo he could drop it off with us, and we’d bring it over, but he insisted on bringing it to you.”

“Why..?” she muttered, before shaking her head. It didn’t matter. “Why do you insist on calling him Kylo? His name is _Ben_.”

“Oh yeah, but Kylo is cooler. Besides, ‘Ben Kenobi’?" Poe shook his head. "Sounds weird. I’m convinced it’s fake.” 

Finn rolled his eyes and grabbed his sandwich.

Rey repeated the name under her breath, feeling the shape of it on her tongue and mouthing it into the air. The name sounded familiar, but she didn’t know why. For now, it was enough to know his name.

For… reasons.


	4. Chapter 4

After many fruitless hours on social media, Rey had to concede that Ben Kenobi was a digital ghost. She tried every avenue she knew; gone through Poe’s online friends and followers, even found Jess Pava’s profiles and turned up nothing there. Millennium Falcon’s instagram page had announced their new guitarist with an arty shot of Ben’s arms holding his guitar (and Rey knew those arms when she saw them), but nothing of his face and no tags.

As a last resort, she googled The Knights of Ren. Having been disbanded over ten years ago, there was little to find. There was an old fan website, where some diligent fan had uploaded some videos, interviews and tv show appearances, but as the whole band was masked there was nothing useful for Rey’s… purposes. Their real names weren’t even used, every piece of content referring to them by their stage monikers, and though Rey had expected some sort of ‘behind the mask’ coverage, there was none.

In the final days of The Knights of Ren - Rey checked the dates and it was less than a week before Snoke’s arrest - a press release had announced that an exciting revelation would accompany their next single. 

The single was never released, and the revelation was dropped in the subsequent media frenzy over Snoke’s trial. 

Snoke. No first name. Like Prince, or Chewbacca. Grainy paparazzi photos showed Snoke to be a tall, gaunt man with a heavily scarred face. It was as if someone had made an amalgamation of every supervillain ever.

The trial had been hotly covered in the media, and had gone on for months. The charges were plentiful, including but not limited to racketeering, harassment, and corruption. No mention of Ben here; the Knights of Ren were all underage and kept out of court, though they had given private testimonials against Snoke. Their real names weren’t even used; their stage names served as handy anonymizers. Flicking through the articles, Rey was surprised to see Leia Skywalker and Han Solo on the list of those who had testified against the producer.

After many months, the verdict came back: guilty on all charges. Here and there, articles stated that Snoke had threatened witnesses, tried to flee custody, and overall removed any doubt that he should be locked up for a long time. He was currently serving a 25-year sentence in Exegol prison.

Rey put her laptop to one side, and picked up her phone.

**Rey S:**

_ Nothing. _

After a few seconds, her phone buzzed.

**Rose T:**

_ Nothing?! _

**Rey S:**

_ Nothing. He’s an internet deviant. _

**Rose T:**

_ Ridiculous. How do you even manage that these days? _

**Rey S:**

_ IKR. _

_ You’ll just have to come to the next gig. _

**Rose T:**

_ If this guy is as hot as you say he is, you won’t be able to keep me away. _

**Rey S:**

_ Hopefully he doesn’t get scared off by the groupie. _

_ I’m not even sure Poe and Finn have told him about the practise AT MY HOUSE on Thursday. _

**Rose T:**

_ Honey, please _

_ He sounds into you AF _

_ He’s definitely not going to get scared off _

* * *

"What do you mean, you're quitting!?"

Rey heard Poe's voice from outside the flat, and felt her heart sink. 

_ It's nothing to do with you _ , she told herself, even as her mind concocted scenarios upon scenarios, each one more embarrassing than the last.

_ "That friend of yours creeps me out man, she seems weird and desperate." _

"We need you man, don't do this to us!"

She rummaged through her bag for her keys, pushing aside some snacks she'd bought on the way home.

_ "I'm sorry, but if you saw the way she threw herself at me… plus she overshares a  _ lot _." _

Her search wasn't turning up a set of keys. Rey knocked on the door, in the hope that it could be heard over Poe's voice, before starting to root through her jacket pockets.

"Hux, we can work something out!"

_ Hux?  _ Rey frowned and glanced up, just as Ben opened the door.

"Hey," he said.

* * *

Rey, Finn and Ben attempted to make themselves comfortable - or preferably, inconspicuous - while Poe ranted about Hux's departure. It wasn't the volume of his voice that made them shrink back in the couch, so much as it was the strangling gestures he made while he spoke.

"What a weasel, oh my god, when I get hold of that little snake I'm going to rip his fingers off. Get daddy to buy you some new FINGERS, weasel!"

He continued in this vein for some time, with no argument from the other three and only a very minor amount of "Yeah"s or "I know"s. Rey had opened her bags of snacks and the three were passing them around.

"What about Snap?" Finn said around a mouthful of popcorn, when he judged Poe able to listen to suggestions.

Poe shook his head.

"Snap Wexley can't sing, and he won't be able to learn the songs in time."

"You and I could do a two-man thing?" Ben said.

Poe didn't answer, still pacing, hands curled in fists and perched on his hips. Ben started to repeat himself, but cut himself off at Rey and Finn's gesturing.

"He's a very serious thinker," Finn said to Ben under his breath. "He heard you, he just takes a while."

"Two man band…." Poe muttered.

Rey, also used to Poe's throes of creative genius, handed Ben the open bag of popcorn, trying to ignore the shiver down her spine as his fingers brushed hers. His eyes, the deep rich brown of an espresso, flickered up to hers.

Eventually, Poe shook his head again.

"Wouldn't work. We need to shake things up. We either need someone who knows my synth inside out, knows  _ drums _ inside out, or a girl who can…"

His voice faltered, and he looked at Rey. Her stomach turned. A smile crept across Poe's face.

"Sing."

* * *

Which is how Rey wound up doing vocal warm ups in her ensuite bathroom between gulps of tepid water, trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

Poe had begged her - quite literally begged her, she had had to haul him up off his knees - and grudgingly added the proviso that they would look for someone else in the two weeks they had before the Kanata Competition.

"Just practise with us tonight honey, so it's not a waste."

She made a face at herself in the bathroom mirror, puffing her cheeks out around the mouthful of water. Gargling as she swallowed, Rey held the glass against her cheek and tried to banish negative thoughts. She sang a scale and winced as her voice stretched across the higher notes.

A knock came at her bedroom door.

"Rey?" Ben called. "We're ready when you are."

She sighed, and put the glass down. The bedroom itself was in darkness, the light spilling from the ensuite cleaving a path to the door.

To her surprise, Ben was still standing there when she opened the door. The hallway light fell across his back, casting shadows over his face. In this light, he looked dangerous, and gazing up at his impressive figure Rey was reminded of the way he had casually plucked people out of his path at Mos Eisley.

"Hi," she said, and cursed herself inwardly.

_ You've already said hi. _

"Hey," he said. "You ready?"

She nodded, and sighed a little at the constant stream of embarrassments she was having to undergo in front of Ben Kenobi.

Obi Wan Kenobi.

_ That _ 's where she had heard the name before.

"How much did your surname factor into hating the Jedi Knights?" She said, and walked towards the kitchen. After a few steps she realised he hadn't followed.

Ben still stood at her bedroom doorway, and was staring at her, nonplussed.

"What?"

"You know… Kenobi. Like Obi Wan Kenobi. Who taught Luke Skywalker how to play guitar."

He continued to stare for a moment, and moved his mouth in that strange way -  _ it's as if he's chewing his words _ , she thought - before closing the gap between them.

Up close, Rey got a closer look at his eyes, noticed the dark golden corona around his pupils. His eyes were intense, almost glassy in their concentration on her, and Rey felt her cheeks start to pink. There was a very faint crease between his eyebrows, a frown in utero.

"Do you -" he said, bending his head to hers, tousled hair framing his face. She wanted nothing more than to reach up and bury her fingers in that hair, run her hands through it.

"...know a lot of stupid facts about the Jedi Knights? You betcha," she joked, trying to take the tension off.

He huffed, and smiled through the exhale. One hand came up and combed through his hair as he straightened up.

"Of course," he said. "I forgot, Rey Skywalker."

Saying her full name - as a statement this time, not a question - sent another blush across her face, and sparked an answering smile from her own lips. She made to open the kitchen door.

"Come on Kenobi," she said. "Poe will be ready to have a fit."

* * *

"Okay guys," Poe said, sitting astride his mini drum kit. "Let's get the gays onside first."

Ben, perched at the edge of the couch with his guitar in his hands, started up a harsh, poppy strumming. After a few beats, Poe started up on the drums, and a timed computer track did the rest. 

Rey lifted the microphone, briefly thanked the stars for the song’s unchallenging range, and sang:

_ "You are the girl _

_ That I've been dreaming of _

_ Ever since I was a little girl" _

"Sex it up honey, let's go!" Poe said, and picked up the tempo, switching to the bridge. Ben followed along without dropping a note, long fingers sliding along the fret. Rey brought her voice in low and shut her eyes, crooning:

_ "I'm biting my tongue _

_ He's kissing on you  _

_ Why can't you see?" _

As the song rose to the chorus, Rey opened her eyes and found herself looking straight at Ben. The effortless way his fingers danced along the guitar fret was belied by his heavy breathing, she noticed, and he was doing his soul-searching gaze thing again.

He had locked eyes with her before while playing, of course - she remembered the few moments that he had done so while she sat in the mezzanine section of Mos Eisley - but up close, it was a very different experience. Up close, it was as if he were playing the music he saw in Rey's soul.

Trying to calm her pounding heart, she belted out:

_ "The word's on the street and it's on the news _

_ I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you  _

_ He's got two left feet and he bites my moves _

_ I'm not gonna teach him how to dance -" _

"What if you do, sunshine?" Poe yelled. Rey grinned, shimmied her shoulders, and responded:

_ "The second I do, I know we're gonna be through _

_ I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you. _

_ He don't suspect a thing, I wish he'd get a clue  _

_ I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you." _

Ben went into his solo and with the brief respite she had, Rey grabbed for her drink. Over the lip of the glass, she watched the way Ben's forearms flexed around the guitar, and remembered the way they had encircled her in Mos Eisley. A quick gargle of the water and she brought her voice back in low.

_ “You're biting my tongue,” _

She closed her eyes. 

_ Those arms, wrapped around her, holding her close _ .

Her voice dropped to a low moan.

_ “I'm kissing on you,” _

_ Her hands carding through his thick black hair, his full, soft lips on hers _ . 

Dropped again, to a husky whisper.

_ “Is he better than me?” _

A harsh sound came from the guitar as Ben fumbled a note, and Rey rounded into the last chorus. When she finally opened her eyes, he was looking at the floor.

* * *

"That was great, it was really great. Fresh, you know? With Hux it was good but this…" Poe manoeuvred some rice into his mouth and mumbled around it: "It's a bit more traditional, but I think we can win with this."

“Babe, swallow your food,” Finn chided, skewering a dumpling onto his own plate.

"You mean when you find another girl to do the gig," Rey said. "You can win with another girl."

Poe shrugged. "Sure. But you don't need to worry. You have a great voice, I've always told you."

"Poe, I can't play with you at Kanata. I really am not that good."

A grunt from Ben, who shook his head. Midway through a mouthful of yakisoba, he held up his chopsticks for a pause, and with some effort, swallowed. 

"You're wrong," he told Rey. "Your voice is raw, yes, it's not at its full potential, yes, and you really did stretch on the high note on that last song -”

“Thanks,” she deadpanned, and he flashed a grin that had her smiling back.

“But you really do have something good there. The Skywalker name suits you.”

That blush came again, spreading up her neck and onto her cheeks.

“Oh yeah!” Poe said. “I forgot you’re a Skywalker.” His chopsticks came up like a conductor’s baton, and waved between Ben and Rey. “That’s hilarious.”

“Hilarious?” The prawn crackers were behind Finn, and Rey gestured for him to hand them over. 

“Yeah,” Poe said. “Because, you know -”

Looking around, crackers in hand, she caught the end of a silent exchange between Poe and Ben. The guitarist was glaring at Poe, lips drawn in a tight line, looking half enraged and half fearful. Poe shrugged before noticing Rey’s look. He winked at Ben.

“Whatever man, I think it’s hilarious that we have a Skywalker and Kylo Ren in our band. We’re like the opposite of a supergroup. It’s like having Pete Best and Andy Wickett in the band.”

Ben’s shoulders -  _ those lovely broad shoulders  _ \- relaxed a little, and he went back to his noodles. 

* * *

After dinner, the three were too full to continue their official practise. Instead they lounged around the living room and Poe brought out his own guitar to have a more informal jam session. He sat on the armchair, legs draped lazily over the arm, while Finn sat on the floor in front of him.

Seated at opposite ends of the couch, Rey and Ben faced each other. Left leg folded under the right, with his right leg planted on the floor, Ben picked at the guitar strings, summoning brief notes of music that made Rey think of rainfall. Poe did the same from the armchair, and both men engaged in a delicate musical dance. Each guitar produced a different series of chords, based on the player’s individual preference, before the sound of one guitar began to follow the other in harmony. It wasn’t a case of one lead and one follower, Rey understood; rather each man knew when was best to strike out in front, and when was best to support.

Balance.

The wandering music - and, no doubt, the five pounds of Chinese food she had just eaten - had something of a soporific effect on Rey. She settled deeper into the couch, lengthening her legs and tucking her feet under Ben’s leg. He didn’t look up, didn’t falter in his playing, merely shifted to give her room before settling again. His leg was a solid, comforting weight on hers. Her eyes started to drift closed.

Gradually, the guitar notes coalesced into a song, and Poe started to hum along with the tune. To Rey’s surprise, it was Ben who started to sing, revealing a rich, powerful voice.

_ With a chest like that, no wonder the lungs are a marvel _ , she thought.

_ “It's been a long, long, long time _

_ How could I ever have lost you _

_ When I loved you?”  _

Acting casual - she hoped - Rey opened her eyes, pretending her return to wakefulness was natural and not galvanised by the pure aural magic emanating from the man at the other end of the couch. From the corner of her eye, she saw Poe grin, and scowled.

For his part, Ben was looking up at the ceiling, head resting on the couch arm. He strummed the guitar for a while, and Rey thought the song was over, before he sang again, murmuring gently:

_ “It took a long, long, long time _

_ Now I'm so happy I found you.”  _

Ben faded out on the lyric, running his fingers along the guitar strings to make a dreamlike, almost harp-like melody. 

The music faded away, and Poe slapped his guitar gently.

“Beautiful.”


	5. Chapter 5

Despite his worries, it didn’t take Poe long to find a new singer. On Sunday morning, as she was getting ready to make a house call for work, Rey received a text:

Poe D:

_Hey sunshine, ur worries are over_

_We got a new singe_

_*singer_

_Bazine Netal_

_Great voice_

_Almost as good as you!_

_But happier on stage_

_You’re still coming to the comp tho? Xx_

Rey S.:

_Of course!_

_So happy you guys found someone_

_See you next week xx_

She threw herself into her work that day, ignoring the pit in her stomach that grew and grew once she found Bazine Netal on social media.

 _Does she own anything that isn’t bodycon_? The idea of Bazine and Ben together on stage almost didn't bear thinking about. And yet:

__

> _Rey watched from the back of the club as Bazine and a shirtless Ben sang into the same microphone, close enough to kiss, and felt her stomach twist as Bazine's hand came up to graze across Ben's abs._
> 
> _Which were perfect, of course._

It really was hard to concentrate on an engine when you were busy thinking about the love of your life kissing another woman. After a few minutes - in which the pain in her stomach showed no sign of lessening - Rey squeezed out from under the car she was working on. 

"Everything OK?" 

Today's client was one of Rey's favourites. Babu Frik was a short old man whose grasp of her language seemed to consist mostly of grunts, short words and the occasional devilish laugh of delight. The added bonus of having to make a house call, rather than working out of Plutt's garage, only made it more sweet. She didn’t even mind that it was a Sunday.

"Yes Mr Frik," she said. "It won't take long. I'm just -"

"Please! Babu. Busy head? Ya. Come."

He beckoned her into the house, taking her tools from her and placing them delicately on the garage's workbench. 

"Come. Visitors come. Lunch."

Babu's house was as close to palatial as Rey had ever seen. He had cornered the market in robotics many years ago and stayed on top despite the changing nature of the game. It made him the go-to robotics expert in Coruscant City.

Rey often wondered why a robotics expert needed a mechanic to service his cars. It wasn't a big job - two cars, a monthly service, and while the cars were premium they were by no means unique, so surely a genius like Babu could figure it out.

"Here! Sit. Eat." 

The kitchen bar was covered in food. There were bowls of fruits, nuts, salads and snacks, and plates of larger items, like sandwiches and mini burritos. Rey took a high seat at the bar and pored over the food, trying to ignore the way her stomach growled at the sight.

“Mr Fr-”

“Ey!”

“Sorry - Babu, are you sure? Do you have people joining you?”

Babu shrugged good-naturedly, and passed her a plate.

“Visitors come. Eat.”

Twice was enough. Rey picked with gusto, putting some things straight into her mouth rather than using the medium of the plate. She was a big believer in the adage of eating whenever you get the chance. The food was delicious, and an appreciative hum escaped her. Babu chuckled, and took another plate out of the fridge.

"Good! More food."

"Thank you so much."

He slid the plate onto the table, barely finding space, before doddering out of the room through the door behind her. Rey craned her neck to follow where he went, but he slipped out of sight down a hallway. 

Shrugging, stuffing her cheeks with falafel balls, she let her eyes wander around the room, taking in the lush trimmings and more kitchen gadgets than Rey would know what to do with.

The doorbell rang. She heard Babu exclaim, and walk to the door. 

_He knows how to put on a good spread,_ she thought. The visitors' voices echoed down from the front hall, followed by footsteps. _They must be important visitors._

"Babu, we don't have _time_ for this-"

"Yes. Food."

The footsteps neared the kitchen.

"If you could just give us R2-D2, assuming you managed to fix him-"

 _R2-D2_? Rey thought wildly, as Babu and his guests entered the kitchen behind her.

"Rey," Babu said. "Han, Chewie."

The food hardened to a ball inside her chest. 

_Surely not. Dear God, surely not._

She turned. Babu was shepherding Han Solo and Chewbacca into his kitchen, gesturing towards the food. Her mouth dropped open.

"Eat!"

Han Solo, drummer for The Jedi Knights and seven-year old Rey's dream father, sighed and shrugged at her. Taking a plate from Babu, he stepped up to the bar.

"Hey, kid," he said. "Anything good? Or did ya get it all?"

Colour flooded Rey's face and her stomach dropped. She'd been eating _Han Solo and Chewbacca's food._

_Oh my god._

"I'm so sorry," she said, scrambling up. "I'm so sorry, I-"

"Hey, cool it," Han said, as Babu let out an "Ey!" from across the room. "Babu always puts on more than Chewie and I can polish off."

Rey glanced up at Chewbacca - Jedi Knight bassist, nearly 7ft tall and with more facial hair than anyone she'd ever seen - and he nodded as he passed, heading towards the hard boiled eggs. She lowered herself back onto the chair.

"Coffee!" Babu declared, placing a French press down on the counter. 

"Thanks Babu," Han said. He pulled up a chair beside Rey, and sat down. "Pass those sandwiches over, would ya?"

She lifted the plate of food and passed it to Han - _Han Solo_! - trying not to stare or freak out.

Her memory of The Jedi Knights had crystallized when she was younger; whenever she thought of them the Skywalkers, Han, and Chewie were permanently young, forever in their prime. The two men in Babu's kitchen were undoubtedly no longer young, but they still drew the eye.

Still, she tried not to let them draw the eye too much. Besides not wanting to look like a starstruck fan, if she jeopardized her work with Babu it would have terrible consequences when word got back to Plutt.

"So, did you have any luck with R2?" Han asked, folding a sandwich into his mouth.

R2-D2 was a key component of the much-maligned holographic phase of The Jedi Knights. It - he, Rey liked to imagine - was a specialised holo-robot, able to project moving figures that were up to two storeys high, and weave entire scenes out of light to display onstage. 

Babu nodded.

"Ya. Fixed. Like new. Almost. "

Han rolled his eyes at Rey. "Babu likes to sucker me in with food, then slaps me with the bad news. Come on, you old coot. Let me have it."

Babu stared down at his mug of coffee, looking sheepish. It was the first time Rey had ever seen him look vaguely out of sorts, a far cry from his normal happy-go-lucky self.

"Memory. Gone."

"Memory-?" A spark of anger appeared in Han's eyes. "What do you mean, the memory is gone?"

Babu lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. "Gone."

“Oh, fer cryin- go get him, would ya? See if Chewie and me can’t figure it out.”

Babu nodded, and gestured to Chewbacca. With an annoyed grunt, Chewbacca laid his full plate down, and followed Babu down the hallway.

“So,” Han said, reaching for the coffee pot. “What brings you to Babu Frik’s house on a Sunday?”

 _Be cool, Skywalker_.

“I’m giving him a service.”

Han started, eyebrows jerking up. Coffee jumped out of the pot.

“Oh - no!” Rey said. “His cars. I work for Unkar Plutt. I’m doing his monthly auto maintenance.”

He heaved a sigh of relief, and a wry expression crossed his face. He gestured towards her with the pot, and she held her mug out. 

“How you finding it, working for the blobfish?” he asked as he poured. “I guess if you’re here on a Sunday it can’t be good.”

She giggled. Plutt’s unfortunate-looking, almost melted face had garnered him the nickname blobfish among friends and enemies alike. She wondered idly which one Han was.

“This is the least of it. It’s only a few hours, anyway. I try to stay out of Unkar’s way, really. A job’s a job, and he was the only one hiring for what I wanted to do.”

Han nodded, and passed her the milk.

“And what is it you want to do?”

“I like working with engines, and finding out how things work. How to make them work. Of course, my ultimate dream is to have my own garage, but that’s a long way off.”

She took a sip of her coffee. Rey was the sort of person who insisted that all coffee tasted the same - from instant to freshly ground, it was all the same bitter bean water - but this stuff was undeniably good.

“What’s wrong with R2?”

“We’re not sure,” he sighed. “We were doing a practise a few weeks ago and he just - gave up. Wouldn’t turn on, wouldn’t respond. We didn’t want to junk him so we brought him here. Babu’s done great work for us in the past.”

 _He. I knew it_ . Rey did an internal fist pump. _Wait - practise?_

“Are you touring again?” she asked, trying to tamp down the note of excitement in her voice.

Han Solo wagged a finger at her, and she cringed a little before noticing the sparkle in his eye.

“You didn’t hear it from me,” he said, mock-frowning. “Leia would kill me if she found out I leaked the news.”

Rey made a locking gesture at the corner of her mouth, and threw away an invisible key. He nodded, and picked up his coffee cup.

“I don’t know what’ll happen if we don’t get R2 working, though. Hopefully Chewie can make something work.”

As if on cue, a shout echoed down the hallway - Chewie’s voice, underlaid with Babu’s babbling.

“Come on, kid,” Han said, getting up from his seat, taking his coffee with him. “Let’s go see what they’ve done.”

* * *

They met Chewie and Babu halfway down the hall, both of them shouting at each other over the fallen R2-D2. The robot lay on his side, lights flashing and beeping sporadically. Rey, having long ago assigned anthropomorphic characteristics to the robot, knelt at his side and placed a hand on his dome, patting him gently the way she would a dog.

“Help me get him up,” she snapped, cutting across the two men’s shouts. Chewie waved an arm, dismissing Babu, before stooping to help Rey.

Righting the robot, Chewie pointed at the open panel on the back of the dome before making a strangled groan and walking off. Han shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Don’t mind him, he gets annoyed when he hasn’t eaten.” 

“Ya.” Babu muttered.

“What’s the problem?”

“Memory! No room. Turns on,” Babu pressed a button inside the open panel, and to Rey’s delight R2-D2 started up, beeping and whirring as his domed head moved from side to side. “But no memory. New compressor. Same problem.”

Running her fingers lightly across R2-D2’s fascia, feeling the weathered metal under her fingertips, Rey found herself saying, absentmindedly:  
“What if you bypass the compressor?”

"Bypass the compressor?" Han's hand came up to rub his chin thoughtfully, and he directed the question at Babu.

"Bypass, not good. Needs memory."

"Technically, he doesn't," Rey said, trying to maintain a balance of respectful disagreement and informed suggestion, painfully aware of the risk she was taking by talking back to a client, even a client as good-humoured as Babu Frik. "If you're using R2 for a live show, you can link him straight to the image processor and just have the holographs move straight through. If nothing sits within the R2 unit, nothing needs to be compressed."

Babu hmm'ed to himself, before shrugging. "But not good for memory."

"No," Rey agreed. "But R2 is nearly older than I am. He is integral to the show, so you can't not use him. Anything is better than nothing, surely?"

Han made a sturgeon face, and Rey worried for a second she had stepped over the line.

"Sounds good to me," he said. "Babu, can you do it for Friday?"

Babu nodded. 

"Great," Han raised his cup before turning on the spot and heading back to the kitchen. His voice drifted back down to them, nearly inaudible, followed shortly by Chewie's throaty laughter.

Rey looked back at R2's fascia, tracing the blue stripes with interest, not daring to look up at Babu. She'd embarrassed him. She wouldn't get paid for today, and Plutt would -

A hand fell on her shoulder, and squeezed gently. Babu fell to his hunkers beside her. 

"Good work," he smiled. "No problem! You want a job here?"

Her heart stopped, before she remembered Plutt and her contract. And Babu probably wasn't being serious.

"I'd love to, Mr Fr-"

"Babu!"

"I'd love to, Babu. But I'm afraid Plutt has me on a fixed contract for the next two years. I can only go when he says I can go." She smiled and held both hands up in a 'what can you do?' gesture.

Babu waved dismissively.

"No problem. I talk to Plutt."

 _Oh my god_.

* * *

They went back into the kitchen together, Rey practically floating, and to her surprise Han and Chewie were still there, digging into the food with gusto. Holding a discussion that seemed to be grunts on both sides as each man shoveled food into their mouths.

A small pressure at her back and Rey was propelled back to her seat. Finding that her butterflies had now quietened down, she selected some small bites to place on her plate.

"So, kid," Han said. "What sorta engines do you work on?"

Feeling buoyant, confidence boosted by her role in fixing R2, Rey said, "Anything I can get my hands on. If something once worked, it can work again. You need to have the time, is all."

"Time," Han said. "is exactly what I seem to have less and less of, these days. Do you think Plutt could send you to our garage someday? I have a load of cars I bought, years ago, that I'd love to get back in shape. I just haven't had time."

Rey chewed slowly and deliberately, making sure each bite was thoroughly chewed before trying to swallow. Her lungs felt like iron balloons, balloons she needed to crank by sheer force of will. It was taking everything she had not to scream and shower the three men with masticated lettuce.

"I'm sure that will be fine," she said. "Just call up and ask for me."

"What's your name?"

"Rey."

_Oh no._

"Rey, what?"

_Rey Skywalker. I named myself after your bandmates. Still want me in your house?_

"I'm the only Rey there. Plutt will know who you mean."

Han shrugged. "OK."

* * *

Babu's car engine practically tuned itself, after that. The work didn't move quite fast enough for her to catch Han and Chewbacca again before they left, but the thought that Plutt might shortly get a call from Han Solo - _from one of The Jedi Knights!_ \- asking for _her_ took the sting off.

"I'm off, Babu," she called into the house. "Both cars are done."

"Good! Good." Footsteps, and Babu appeared down the hallway. "Thank you."

"Enjoy the cars," she said. "See you next month."

It was politeness, more than anything - as complimentary as his offer had been, Rey couldn't afford to presume that Babu had been serious. He chuckled.

"Sooner! I talk to Plutt, remember? Don't forget." He pointed impishly at Rey, before bundling some leftovers into her hands. 

_Where did these even come from? How was there anything left?_

A flurry of goodbyes, flustered gratitude and rustling tinfoil, and before she knew it Rey was outside, in Babu’s drive, front door closing behind her.

 _What a day_.

She finagled her way into opening the topmost tinfoil packet - it was dolmathakia - and popped one of the leaf-wrapped parcels into her mouth, smiling around the slightly sour taste.

It was as she was packing the little cylinders into her mouth, grinning like a loon, that she noticed Ben Kenobi was sitting in his car, parked across the street.

Staring right back at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I don't have a clue how cars or robotics work (obviously), please excuse my technobabble as it's much more babble than techno.
> 
> I was pleasantly surprised by Babu turning up in this chapter. I like him as a character but did find his dialogue hard to write at times; please feel free to give feedback.


	6. Chapter 6

_She_ has _to be fucking with me_.

It had crossed his mind before. Rey Skywalker? Jedi Knight superfan? What were the chances Rey didn't know who he was?

She definitely knew who his parents were. She knew enough about The Jedi Knights to write a book. And loved them enough to remodel herself in freedom around the Skywalker name. It should have been enough to make Ben steer clear. 

Then his father had met him for coffee and been singing the praises of a female mechanic from Plutt's Parts, a female mechanic who was young, sparky and knew all about R2-D2.

The Plutt's Parts logo - a car sitting atop a junkyard pile - had been emblazoned on Rey's boilersuit the weekend she had told him about her family. From what he knew of Unkar Plutt, Ben had thought it unlikely that he would hire more than one female mechanic. Which is why he had been sitting in his car for the past half hour, waiting for the mechanic to leave.

He should have gone home and practised, he knew; Poe had already told him about Bazine and they were having a practise session tonight. But he had to know.

He had to know so much that he was sitting in his car, engine off, watching Babu's house like a cop on a stakeout. _Very normal behaviour_.

Quite why she was bringing this side of himself out, Ben didn't know. Whenever he thought about it - or tried to remember that Rey was only recently getting over a breakup - all that came to mind were her dimples. The softness of her skin. The way that his jacket had looked so good draped around her shoulders.

 _Too soon,_ he thought. _She broke up with Hux last week._

 _I don't care._ This was what his therapist liked to call Ben's id, in the aspect of Kylo Ren. 

"Its not DPD," she hastened to add, "Just a bit like Jiminy Cricket. Except this one is telling you what you really want. It can be useful."

And indeed, whenever Ben had a chaotic thought it was inevitably in the shitty computerised voice of his boyband alter-ego. _I want her._

Growing up in the Skywalker-Solo household, Ben knew the importance of privacy. It had been drilled into him from a young age: don't do interviews, don't go on social media, and never tell people who you really are.

His identity was a near-secret, he knew. Every time there was a Ben-shaped whisper in a gossip rag, Leia sent her PR team down with a vengeance. She had been responsible for the closing down of more than one gossip website. 

Grandma Padmé - always afraid of kidnapping - had suggested using other boys that looked like Ben to join the Jedi Knights in public, an idea that Han had shot down immediately.

This overzealous caution had sent Ben running straight into Snoke's arms when he was younger. Then a teenager, nearly a man, he had jumped at the chance to get back at his parents by slingshotting himself off their fame. But too soon, he found out that Leia and Han had done the right thing in protecting him from fame, and from power-hungry men.

_Let the past die,_ he told himself. It had been one of Ben Solo's conditions for joining Millennium Falcon. No one finds out who he is. And Poe refers to him as Ben Kenobi. It had seemed silly, self-indulgent to a nauseating degree when he offered the name to Poe in place of his real one. Poe didn't know Kenobi but appreciated why Ben felt he had to hide his true identity. Particularly if they were going to be playing music on-stage most nights.

"Why this?" Poe had asked, during his interview. They sat opposite each other at Pava's, sharing a pizza. A diavola, in fact. "You're Han So- "

Ben hissed, urging him to keep it down.

Poe shrugged. "You are who you are. You could get a record deal like that. Why this?"

"I've done that. I'd like to do something with a bit less - pressure."

Poe had laughed at that. "I can't promise playing with me will be pressure-free. But let's give it a try. Join us at practise tonight."

"Thanks. And please -"

"- no one finds out who you are. Gotcha. I'll do you one better."

He hadn't imagined this would mean being saddled with the name Kylo again, but after the initial sour taste of being introduced to everyone as such, Ben had gotten over it. Never mind the strange psychosomatic effect it had had, making him colder somehow. Less interested in what was going on around him.

Until Rey.

He knew of her, before they met. Poe had mentioned his boyfriend and his flatmate would be helping them at their first gig. And once Poe had left the room, Hux had mentioned that he and the housemate were dating, that she was taking some time to warm up. Calling him Kylo the whole time.

So when he turned into the alley that night at Mos Eisley, and saw the two of them in the middle of an argument, Hux clutching at Rey's arm, he felt… nothing. Did nothing. A part of him railed, ready to fly out of the car in a rage and make Hux unhand the girl. That was the Skywalker temper, he knew - Grandpa Anakin was prone to sudden dramatic outbursts, as was Ben's mother. It surfaced in Ben, from time to time.

That coldness thawed when he found himself tucked up under the trunk door with her. Rey. Piling equipment into her arms. Noticing the dimples in her cheeks when she smiled.

"Everything OK with you and your girl?" He had asked Hux before the gig. The redhead had shrugged, insolent face twisted in such a way as to send a brief flash of annoyance through Ben.

"Lost cause, Kylo. She has wasted my time for the last time. We're done."

At Hux's words, Ben felt something inside him unclench. 

Then the fight. Seeing Rey fall to the crowd, with Hux nowhere to be seen. His Skywalker sensibilities flared, and it was the work of a few minutes to run through the crowd to the mezzanine, Poe not far behind, and clear a path to her. Unafflicted by his size the way that other large people were - constantly hunching, reluctant to take up space - Ben had found it almost laughably easy to get people out of the way. And he had ended up being something of a human shield for Rey, nostrils filled with the sweet smell of her hair, nearly overcome by just how _tiny_ she was compared to him.

She had taken a punch to the face, and when Ben draped his jacket around her shoulders she hadn't noticed, so mired was she in the adrenaline comedown. On top of the crushing aftermath of an ending relationship. It was a rough night for her.

He was almost able to pretend that his offer of pizza was altruistic, a friend helping a friend feel better. Sitting across from her as they talked - and Ben really did talk, having to stop himself more than once from telling her his whole genealogy - he felt a calm and quiet contentment that were unfamiliar in their familiarity.

As if he had known Rey his whole life.

The night hadn't ended perfectly, he knew. She had made a light pass at him and he had panicked. It hadn't been anything crazy. Just a reference to dinner, while showing off her (excellent) cleavage. But Ben's mind had been full of Hux, grabbing Rey's arm; of watching Rey go down under the horde at Mos Eisley, and had blanked out completely at the thought that Rey was looking to him for a rebound, for a light bit of comfort. 

He realised he wanted more than that. So he had floored the accelerator and left with nothing.

Since then, a handful of encounters. Returning her debit card and finding out about her family. He had startled the shit out of Luke that Saturday morning, ringing his phone off the hook to find out - to make _sure_ \- Ben didn't have a female cousin. 

The practise at her flat. Playing music and having a better time than Ben could remember having in a long time. He had felt so at home on that couch, playing guitar idly, trying to ignore the weight of Rey's body on his legs while drinking in the sight of her whenever he could.

And of course, she knew about Obi-Wan.

When Rey finally exited Babu's house - laden down with tinfoil packages that Ben knew had to contain the famous Babu Frik leftovers - he felt a familiar mixture of contentment and consternation that he was starting to associate exclusively with Rey Skywalker.

He stared as she fumbled with the parcels, before popping several small bits into her mouth. She was far enough away that Ben couldn't quite see the delighted look on her face, the gleeful way her cheeks puffed out around the food, but he found that his imagination was doing a stellar job on its own. He had begun to imagine her nose wrinkling in pleasure over the food, before realising that she was looking over at him.

_Fuck._

For a brief, blinding instant, his fingers flew to the keys in the ignition, his foot to the clutch, and in his mind's eye he saw himself peel away, burning rubber down the street, just to avoid her.

_Stupid._

His body relaxed, just a little. She had paused where she was, still watching him. He took a deep breath and exhaled in a huff, before opening the car door and swinging himself out.

"Hey," he called. 

* * *

_Fuck_.

Ben.

Looking godlike as ever.

While she was chomping on leftover food and covered in engine grease. _Perfect_.

She swallowed the dolmathakia and shouted across the street, "Hi!"

They looked at each other from opposite sides of the street, and Rey felt a sinking guilt. If she hadn't been staring at him he wouldn't have been forced to say hey. And she could have gone on her merry way without yet another embarrassing Ben Kenobi incident.

"Do you need a ride?"


	7. Chapter 7

“No way, _the_ Han Solo?” Ben asked, eyes fixed on the traffic ahead.

“Yeah! I couldn’t believe it. And he was so nice - in that sort of grumpy old man way -”

Ben snorted out a laugh.

“- and he said he’d ring Plutt to ask for me! Except I guess now he’ll be ringing Babu Frik because I also got a new job? And all these leftovers. And then you were there, ready to save me from the bus. Everything’s coming up Rey, I guess.”

“It seems that way,” he agreed. “Aren’t you full by now?”

Rey looked up, a piece of smoked salmon pinched between her fingers. “Is that a serious question?”

“Please don’t drop that in here.”

“I won’t, no food of mine gets left behind on the road from plate to mouth.” She displayed her commitment to this life mission by deftly tucking the piece of fish into her mouth with a slight inhaled ‘pop!’. 

“What brings you to this neighbourhood anyway, Mr Kenobi?”

Ben stared through the windshield, a slight frown on his face. One - two - three taps on his wheel and he exhaled, turning to Rey.

“I was meeting my father for coffee, actually,” he said. “Who you might - shit!”

Nearly too late, he saw the rear of the car in front loom up towards them, almost too fast to avoid. He slammed on the brakes, spinning the steering wheel with one arm while the other stretched across Rey’s chest like a steel bar. The car’s nose dipped, and the sudden deceleration made Rey’s head snap forward. At the very least, she had enough presence of mind to clutch her leftovers, so nothing tipped to the floor when Ben’s car stopped barely a metre from the car in front.

“Fuck, are you OK?” Ben took his arm away. “That asshole braked - I’m so sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” She spluttered. “Are you kidding?”

She lifted the leftovers and plonked them onto Ben’s lap, before releasing her seatbelt and ripping her door open. The driver in front had gotten out and was checking something on the bonnet of his car.

“Oi!” She got out and stood, leaning over the gap between the door and the car. “What the _shit_ are you doing? Bad place to check your engine, isn’t it?”

In her anger it came out as _innit_ , and despite having nearly totaled his car, it made Ben smile. 

A smile that quickly fell when he heard the owner of the car in front telling Rey to,

“Get bent, bitch.”

He didn’t think about it, really - just yanked his door handle so hard he felt the hinge give a little, and unfolded himself out of the car. He heard a crumpling from inside the car.

“Wanna repeat that, buddy?”

He slammed the door, and started to take long strides toward the other driver.

(A hiss from behind him - “Did you drop my leftovers?”)

The driver’s face fell on seeing Ben, an expression that did not improve the closer he came. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t -” he started.

“You didn’t, you didn’t, what? You didn’t realise there was a man with her, is that it?” Ben passed the driver’s door, and started round the bonnet.

The man took a few steps backwards, and threw a sly glance over at Rey.

“Help me out here honey, you don’t want your boyfriend going down for GBH.”

“I’m not her boyfriend.” 

“I don’t mind,” Rey said cheerfully. “Kick his arse, babe.”

Incredibly, Ben felt a flush start at the base of his neck at Rey’s _babe_ , and his Skywalker blood simmered down some. He pointed his finger at the driver, directly under his nose, which he belatedly realised was a Han Solo manoeuvre.

“Don’t call women bitches, asshole. And don’t fucking brake for no reason.”

He spun around and headed back to the car, not looking at Rey. He couldn’t feel the blush on his face but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

“Well, never a dull moment,” she said when they were both sitting down again. She was gathering her leftovers diligently, running her fingers over the tops to check for leakages. “I can’t tell if it’s your presence or mine.”

“Probably mine,” Ben said, maneuvering smoothly around the stopped car. “People see a man my size and like to try and start fights.”

“Ah,” Rey said “but he didn’t see you. He just fancied himself a clever dick and thought he could get away with being shitty to me.”

“Well, not while I’m around.” Intent on switching lanes for the next exit, Ben failed to see the slight blush of pink on Rey’s face.

 _One day, I will not blush in this man’s presence_ , she thought.

“Very chivalrous.” She managed.

* * *

“Thanks for the lift,” she said, gingerly stepping out of the car while balancing her leftovers stack. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in for a coffee?”

“I’m good,” he smiled, and something in her stomach flipped at the gentle, open joy on his face. Finn smiled with his teeth, Poe smiled with his eyes, but Ben Kenobi smiled with… everything. “I have to get back to get my stuff for practise.”

“Oh right.” _Practise with Bazine Netal._ “Well, have fun. I’m looking forward to the competition next weekend!”

“If we make it that far,” Ben shrugged. “Poe is really ramping up the pressure this week to get us in shape. But we’ll be fine. Are you sure you don’t want to come to the practise this evening?”

 _And watch Bazine ‘bodycon’ Netal drape herself on you? I’d rather lick a drainpipe._

“What, you think these leftovers are going to eat themselves?” She grinned. “Not tonight. But I will definitely come to the competition.”

“And hopefully there won’t be any fights.”

“You say that,” she laughed, “but with the two of us there, what are those odds?”

* * *

Despite the weekend that she’d had, Rey’s week passed with little fanfare. Unkar was no nicer to her, and gave no sign at all that Babu Frik had even contacted him. Every day, she waited for him to call her into his office, to fire her or bribe her to stay, but nothing. Every evening, she went home in her oily jumpsuit and tried not to be disappointed. 

_Babu is a busy guy_ , she thought. _He probably forgot_.

Finn and Rose helped to keep her mind off it. On Wednesday night, they all came to the flat for a monthly get-together they liked to call “Chinese and Cheaters”.

“Pause it!” Finn’s voice echoed down the hallway as he ran for the bathroom. 

“We can’t, just hurry! They’re at the discover stage!” Rose hollered back.

Rey plonked her box of chow mein down on the coffee table, and leaned back on the sofa. She was full nearly to bursting, and her portion of banana fritters was glaring accusingly at her from the bag on the table.

“So,” Rose turned to her, ignoring Clark Gable’s sonorous voice laying out the indiscretions of the latest disloyal husband. “How is Operation Kenobi going?”

Rey took a deep breath and blew it out on a raspberry, pointing her thumb down.

“He’s had three practises this week with Bazine Netal - the bodycon woman - so it’s safe to say it’s game over.”

“What? No way. He was into you?”

“Who was into you?” _Shit_. Finn leapt over the back of the sofa, jostling Rey enough to make her groan.

“Babu Frik,” she tried. “Into me… working for him.”

“Nice try, sunshine,” Finn said, reaching for the bag of banana fritters. “Ben, I’m guessing?”

“Yes.” Rose said, picking through her five spice beef. 

“Rose!”

“What? Finn knows.”

“Yes, but it’s just _embarrassing_.” Rey picked up a cushion and pressed it over her face. “It’s like I’m a schoolgirl with a crush, for god’s sake. And he’s just being nice!”

“Rey babe, I’m only going to say this once because the crew are on the way to the rendezvous -” 

“Ooh!” Rose turned her attention to the screen. Rey removed her face cushion. There certainly were a lot of people in the minibus.

“But,” Finn turned to Rey, one eye on the TV. “The guy is into you, I’m telling you. And Bazine might not be called Lean Bazine for nothing -”

“No, she’s NOT.” Rose threw over her shoulder, laughing.

“No, she’s not, but trust me babe, she doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

“Aww, peanut.” Her arms embraced thin air as Finn dodged her hug, eyes glued to the screen.

“Not now, some cheaters are about to catch hands.”

* * *

Rey’s week continued in that same unremarkable vein until Friday afternoon. She was at the garage, lying under the chassis of a cute little Fiat that was having brake troubles when Plutt’s size 9 steel-toed boots stepped up to the car.

“Skywalker,” he said. “My office.”

 _This is it_. Her heart was stuttering with nerves as she rolled out from under the Fiat, and wiped her hands on her boilersuit as she followed Plutt into his office.

He was easing his ample rear end into his chair when she closed the door behind her, and he shuffled through some papers on his desk. She did not take a seat.

“I’ve had a phone call about you today Skywalker,” he said. “From Babu Frik.”

“Yes, Mr Plutt?”

“Seems he wants to make a complaint about your work.”

Rey’s stomach dropped. “A… what?”

Unkar Plutt fixed her with a humourless grin. “A complaint, Skywalker. You didn’t complete the job, he said. He doesn’t want you back.”

Her stomach was now in freefall. She felt sick at the thought that she had upset Babu. The promised new job didn’t matter a bit. 

“I’m sorry sir, I’ll make it -”

Plutt waved his hand. “No, you won’t. You’re off the Frik contract.”

She looked at the floor, trying to blink back the sudden rush of tears. She had other clients, but none as nice as Babu. Her mind spun, trying to think what it was that had caused the complaint.

 _Han and Chewbacca_ , she thought. _The way I acted around them. Or maybe I didn’t focus on the Mustang properly after they’d left. Oh, god. It was the way I steamrolled him on R2-D2._

“You should consider yourself lucky you’re not out on your ear, girl,” Plutt continued. “Babu Frik is an old client of mine. I don’t want you to talk to him again and risk our partnership.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Anyone else, you’d be out of a job. But I’m not a bad guy. Some overtime this weekend, less your commission from this week. And we’ll forget it happened.”

“Yes, sir.” Her tears grew hot with frustrated rage, and one slipped onto her cheek. _Another week’s commission lost_. She lifted a hand quickly and brushed it away. After a few seconds, she looked up to see that Plutt had started to fill in some paperwork, and considered herself dismissed.

The rest of her workday dragged. Under the cars, she could let the tears come freely, letting them stream down her face and drip onto the floor where they mixed with the oil patches. 

She was lucky to still have her job, she knew. At least she had that.

_Which seems to pay less and less every week thanks to Plutt._

Rey took deep breaths and focused on her work the best she could, counting down the minutes until 8pm.

* * *

Despite the cathartic tears and her calming breaths, Rey's mind was a fog all the way home. Having nearly missed her bus stop, with only her misery-stricken face to help convince the driver to stop in time, she remained in a fugue all the way to her apartment door. It was only when her key was turning in the lock that she heard the steady beat of music emanating from the flat.

_Fuck._

The door was already ajar; there could be no cop-outs.

 _Go in, wave, go to your room. No fuss, no muss._

The music faltered a little as she walked in, and a chorus of voices sounded out a cheerful "hey!". Rey busied herself with her key in the door, facing away from the living room. She didn't know if they were still looking. Planting her fist firmly into the nearest eyesocket to them, she began a pantomime of rubbing to cover her tear-tracked face from the band. A quick glance showed that they were indeed looking her way, including -

Bazine Netal.

While not in full bodycon regalia, Bazine had poured herself into a pair of tight skinny jeans, with a black skintight top on her upper half. She was lean and taller than Rey, with dark hair and makeup accentuating her copper-coloured skin.

She was standing behind Ben, with a casual arm slung across his shoulders. For his part, Ben didn't seem to be disliking it, and it seemed that the two of them were leaning toward each other.

"Hey guys!" Rey called quickly. She didn't have much time. She kept up the rubbing facade until she had turned fully away from them and headed briskly down the hall. 

She was so close to the privacy of her room, her hand on the doorknob, that Rey had started to let the tears fall when Finn's door clicked open.

"Hey sunshine, how-"

She had turned towards him in surprise and then quickly away, but not quick enough. He saw the tears shining on her face and stepped forward.

"Rey, what -"

She opened her bedroom door and slipped into the darkness. Finn saw a sliver of Rey's face, tear tracks and a shushing finger over her lips, before the door closed.

Finn looked down the hall. Bazine was muttering something to Ben, leaning on his shoulders.

* * *

"That was a good practise guys. I think one more round of The Chain tomorrow before Kanata's and it's in the bag." Poe looped his electrical cords around his elbow and stuffed them into his backpack. It was 11pm, and they had been practising for four hours.

Ben nodded. "Sounds good."

The tension that had electrified Poe's body all day was starting to dissipate, conceding ground until tomorrow. He left his backpack against the wall before heading down to Finn's room.

Bazine had draped herself over the armchair, her shrinkwrapped legs over the arm.

"Can I get a ride home?" She said, almond-shaped eyes fixed on Ben. 

"Where do you live?"

"Mos Pelgo."

Ben sighed. It wasn't too far out of his way, but still. "Sure."

Once his guitar was packed away, Ben leaned the case by the door and headed down the hallway, ostensibly to knock for Poe and tell him he was leaving. Halfway down the dark hallway, he found himself drifting towards Rey's door.

She hadn't seemed right when she came in - had fled straight to her room and not re-emerged since. Torn between concern and not wanting to disturb her, Ben dawdled for a few seconds before knocking at her door.

"Rey?" He called softly. 

There was no light under the door, and he cursed himself. She was probably having an early night.

He was about to continue on to Finn's room when he heard soft footsteps, and Rey's door opened a crack. She stood in the doorway, face hidden in darkness.

"Hey, Ben."

Her voice was low and almost husky, like she was ill.

"Hey, are you OK?"

No response, and then: "Migraine."

"Can I get you anything?"

A small laugh, followed by a sniffle.

"Well, I wouldn't mind -"

"Ben?" 

Bazine sidled up beside him, his jacket thrown over her shoulder for some reason. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yeah," he said, turning towards her. "Just give me a -"

_Click!_

When he looked back, Ben was faced with Rey's closed door.

"Night." He murmured.

* * *

It felt as though she cried all night, but she experienced moments of suspended silence that told her she must have dropped off at least once or twice. In those moments there was just the heat of her swollen eyelids, at once too dry and too wet, and the snuffles of her blocked nose. 

Over and over, a rotating carousel of shame spun through her brain. Babu and his leftovers. Han Solo and Chewbacca. Ben and Bazine. And always the thought that tomorrow she had to show up to Unkar Plutt’s garage, bite her tongue, and go back to work. She had told Han Solo that no one else was hiring for what she wanted to do, and unfortunately that was still true. She checked other garage websites every weekend, and none were hiring.

 _Maybe it’s time to give up, Skywalker_ . She thought. _Time to retrain._

At least in another job, even if it wasn’t her dream job, she would be earning a steady paycheck. She wouldn’t be coming home at all hours filthy and sore from contorting herself under engines in a cold, dirty garage. Rey liked the work but the conditions were less than optimal. And Plutt was a wanker. 

Next on the carousel - Babu. Her face flooded with shame at the thought that she had humiliated her favourite client, that he no longer wanted her to do his monthly maintenance. It was the way she undermined him on R2-D2, she realised. She overstepped, and even good-natured Babu could only be pushed too far. Plutt being who he was, she knew she would never so much as see Babu’s name again. Small mercies.

And on the heels of that - Han Solo and Chewbacca. God, what a fucking idiot she must have made of herself. Thank _god_ she never told them her full name. Still, she would never see them again either.

Having made some sort of uneasy peace with her transgressions at work, her attention finally turned to the real kicker, the final shitty cherry on top of the big shit cake.

Ben.

Bazine.

Over and over, her mind flicked back and forth between the image of Bazine draped over Ben’s shoulders, of Bazine standing beside Ben with his jacket slung over one shoulder. She felt like an idiot, like she had been intruding when they stood together outside her door, framed in the dim light of the hallway. When Ben had turned to look at Bazine, Rey had closed the door and slipped back into bed. It was too much, to see the two of them together, both tall and lean, both dark-haired and gorgeous. The way Bazine had slouched beside him, holding his jacket, not even looking at Rey, spoke to a familiarity between the two of them that could only really be - 

_Nope. Leave that one for now, babe. Get some sleep._

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from 'Night' by Bruce Springsteen:  
>   
>  _The circuit's lined and jammed with chromed invaders_  
>  _And she's so pretty that you're lost in the stars_  
>   
>  I love me a modern AU. That's my only note.


End file.
